Cricket Australia's deal to host game's biggest draw-card, India, in four out of six summers India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Cricket Australia has reached an in-principle agreement to host the game's biggest draw-card, India, in four out of six summers under the new Future Tours Program (2012-2017). The new deal means that teams like the West Indies and Pakistan may not get the same public billing as world cricket's other two heavyweights -- South Africa and England. Australia already visits India, the financial heartland of the modern game, for either Tests or one-day internationals every year, and commences a seven-game ODI series in Vadodara on Sunday. Under the new arrangement, which is not yet set in stone but has the provisional backing of the International Cricket Council, India would come to Australia almost as often, visiting for Tests one summer and one-dayers the next, news.com reports. ''The objective has been to spread the quality of touring teams over the period so that we get better value for the fans. If we get it right, we could have India touring here in four out of six years during the next FTP period,'' said Cricket Australia spokesman Peter Young. There is an obvious benefit to hosting India more regularly - the value of television rights to CA when India's stars are in town exceeds television revenue for an Ashes tour because of the huge, cricket-mad population on the subcontinent.